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The Faces of Change in the Midterm Elections

The candidates in the midterm elections are among the most diverse set to run in the history of the United States. Scroll to start

These 411 — women, people of color and L.G.B.T. candidates — are challenging the status quo by running for House, Senate and governor seats.

272 of the 964 candidates running this year are women.

216 are black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American or multiracial.

26 identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

It’s a record year for diversity among candidates, and many could make history if they win their races on Tuesday.

The share of candidates who are white men, at 58 percent, is the lowest in the past four elections, according to a New York Times analysis.

In the 2018 midterm elections, diversity has become a political movement. Rising out of the protests in the early months of the Trump administration, an unprecedented number of women, people of color, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender candidates are now running for Congress and governor, according to a New York Times analysis.

The percentage of candidates who are white men is the lowest it’s been in the last four elections, according to data available to The Times.

… bisexual senator in the country and first female senator from Arizona.

Marsha Blackburn

Tenn. Senate

… female senator from Tennessee.

Deb Haaland

N.M. House District 1

… Native American congresswoman.

Young Kim

Calif. House District 39

… Korean-American congresswoman.

Janet Mills

Me. Governor

… female governor of Maine.

Kristi Noem

S.D. Governor

… female governor of South Dakota.

Ilhan Omar

Minn. House District 5

… Muslim-American congresswoman.

The efforts of these candidates and others like them point to a major shift in the kinds of Americans choosing to pursue public service through elected office. Their candidacies are likely to have long-lasting impacts on political representation in the United States, though they are unlikely to radically change the overall composition of the House, Senate and governorships.

There are more new faces than incumbents in this diverse cohort of candidates. More than a quarter of all the candidates running this year are female, including 84 women of color — a 42 percent increase from just two years ago. There are at least 216 candidates of color and a record 26 openly L.G.B.T. candidates, more than five times the number in 2010.

“There is a sense that our communities are under attack and we are the best advocates for policies that will fight back against those attacks,” said Sayu Bhojwani, president of New American Leaders, an organization that helps immigrants run for public office.

The diversity is not uniform. Among Democratic candidates, white men are actually a minority, making up just 41 percent of candidates for Congress and governor this year.

Candidate breakdown by party

←White Men

205

353

←Others

294

109

← Democrats

Republicans →

Currently, white men make up a third of the United States population, but 69 percent of all governors and members of Congress. That disconnect looks particularly stark in districts where a majority of residents are people of color. Democratic challengers in those areas, like Ayanna Pressley in Massachusetts, found primary success this year by stressing the importance of identity.

“Listen, I’m not saying vote for me because I’m a black woman, but I won’t pretend representation doesn’t matter. It matters,” Ms. Pressley said during a campaign stop over the summer.

In September, Ms. Pressley defeated 10-term incumbent Michael Capuano in the Democratic primary for her Boston-based district. She is now poised to become the first black woman to represent her state in Congress.

She is one of several female candidates who defeated male opponents, often surprising their parties as the unexpected winner of primaries this year.

“Women like me aren’t supposed to run for office,” she said, in a viral campaign video that kicked off her bid for Congress.

Appeals like that pave the way for other people of color, women and those from historically marginalized groups to run for office by changing the image of the kinds of Americans who are politicians, say proponents of increasing political diversity.

“When you have two Muslim-American women in Congress, suddenly every young Muslim-American woman sees that as a possibility,” said Ms. Bhojwani, who recently published a book on the new wave of first and second-generation Americans running for office. (Two Democratic candidates could fit the bill she described.)

In redder states, candidates are less likely to make explicit appeals to their identity. But the president’s inflammatory comments on matters of race, gender and sexuality have made discussion of these topics nearly unavoidable. Divisive themes have shown up in campaign ads and in debates across the country.

While Mr. Gillum has a chance at victory — he is effectively tied with his opponent — in a number of other races, white men are likely to win. In Utah, Jenny Wilson, who would be the first female senator from the state, consistently polls behind her Republican opponent, Mitt Romney. Christine Hallquist of Vermont, who would be the country’s first transgender governor, is expected to lose to Gov. Phil Scott, the Republican incumbent.

When you take out the long shots, women and candidates of color will most likely make up close to a third of Congress and governor’s mansions next year, similar to now. Winning all of the races that are considered competitive would increase their share to nearly 40 percent.

But some say parity is only part of the point.

“The most interesting part of this story may be yet to come,” said Cecile Richards, a former Planned Parenthood president, who has been campaigning for female candidates since stepping down from her position this year. “How to turn this massive energy into really serious political power for women — that’s the piece we haven’t figured out yet.”

Sources: The Associated Press; U.S. House of Representatives; U.S. Senate; Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University; Ballotpedia; The Cook Political Report; Latino Victory; the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies; AAPI Data; Victory Fund; Center on the American Governor at Rutgers University; and Women Donors Network in partnership with the Center for Technology and Civic Life

Notes: Data includes major party nominees, independents and third-party candidates who won major party primaries. The chart showing the party breakdown of candidates does not include Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine, independent incumbent senators who caucus with Democrats, and Alyse Galvin, who won the Democratic primary in Alaska but will run undeclared in the general election for a U.S. House seat. Data does not include results from the Louisiana elections and Mississippi’s special general election for a U.S. Senate seat, which are on Nov. 6. Jason Gonzalez, a Republican candidate for New York’s 15th Congressional District, is included in the data but is not shown, because his campaign could not be reached. Race is given according to census definitions, which classify people from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa as white.

Photos are from candidates’ campaigns, The Associated Press, Getty Images, Reuters, The New York Times, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, the Republican Party of Minnesota and the Maryland Republican Party.

An earlier version of this article used a data set that miscategorized the race of Ben Jealous, the Democratic candidate for governor in Maryland, which skewed the number of candidates in the text and graphics by one. He is black, not white.